Between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006, Alberta experienced the highest net inflow of residents, posting a migration rate of 20.3 people for every 1,000 population. British Columbia was a distant second with a net migration rate of 12.3 people, while Ontario was third at 9.6 people.

The highest net inflow relative to the population size occurred in Calgary, which had a net inflow of 21.5 migrants for every 1,000 residents, followed closely by Edmonton with a net inflow of 21.0 migrants and Toronto with 17.3 migrants.

In absolute terms, Toronto had the highest net inflow, with 91,909 more people moving into the metropolitan area than moving out. Vancouver ranked second with a net inflow of 36,321 people, followed by Calgary (+22,961 people).

For Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal, the number of net migrants was highest in the 25-44 age group.

An important shift in rates of net gain per 1,000 population occurred between the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 periods. In 2004/2005, 4 of the 5 census divisions with the highest net gain in migrants were located near Montreal, with the census division of Mirabel leading the way.

In 2005/2006, Mirabel still ranked first, but this time it was followed by three census divisions from Alberta and two from Ontario.

Data is from Statistics Canada.

Figures from the Bank of Spain reveal that foreign investment in Spanish property increased by 19.2% in the first 5 months of the year compared to the same period in 2006. The amount invested by Spaniards in property outside of Spain almost doubled over the same period.

The total amount invested by foreigners to the end of May was 2.252 billion Euros, almost the same as the amount invested in 2005, though still significantly below the 2.925 billion Euros invested in the peak year of 2003.

How does one reconcile this increase in foreign investment in Spanish property at a time when the market is clearly turning down?

One explanation might be that many of the off-plan sales made in 2004 and 2005 are only now being recorded as investments as buyers take possession of their properties and complete the purchase before notary. This is the moment when the investment is recorded in the national accounts.

Nevertheless, the figures do seem to suggest that foreign demand for Spanish property has picked up significantly since last year, even though property professionals report that the market is still very slow.

Existing-home sales fell in August when mortgage availability problems were peaking, according to the National Association of Realtors. Total existing-home sales – including single-family, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops – were down 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.50 million units in August from a level of 5.75 million in July, and are 12.8 percent below the 6.31 million-unit pace in August 2006.

Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, expected the decline. “The unusual disruptions in the mortgage market, including a significant rise in jumbo loan rates, resulted in a fairly high number of postponed or cancelled sales, with many buyers having to search for other financing when loan commitments fell through,” he said. “Lower sales contributed to a build-up of unsold inventory.”

Yun expects similar results for home sales in September. “Once we get through these disruptions, we’ll get a better sense of where the actual market is in late fall as conditions begin to normalise,” he said.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $224,500 (£109,500) in August, up 0.2 percent from August 2006 when the median was $224,000 (£109,300). The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

“Price gains in the Northeast and Midwest were largely offset by a decline in the West, while the median existing-home price in the South was down slightly, demonstrating that all real estate is local,” NAR President, Pat Combs said.

Northeast
Existing-home sales in the Northeast slipped 2.0 percent in August to an annual pace of 1.00 million, and are 5.7 percent below a year ago. The median price was $282,300 (£137,700), up 3.6 percent from August 2006.

South
Existing-home sales in the South eased by 2.7 percent to a level of 2.20 million in August, and are 12.7 percent lower than August 2006. The median existing-home price was $183,500 (£89,500) down 0.7 percent from a year ago.

Midwest
Existing-home sales in the Midwest fell 5.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.28 million in August, and are 10.5 percent below a year ago. The median price was $177,100 (£86,400), up 3.1 percent from August 2006.

West
Existing-home sales in the West dropped 9.8 percent in August to a level of 1.01 million, and are 21.7 percent below August 2006. The median price was $332,300 (£162,100), which is 3.8 percent below a year ago.

Welfare recipients living in some beach areas will be the focus of a new crackdown by the Australian government according to a report from the BBC. The Australian Government says that some coastal towns have “stubbornly” high unemployment where people refuse to work and choose instead to surf and relax on the beach.

The Australian Government is concerned that jobless rates in some seaside towns are way above the national average.

Education Minister Andrew Robb said, “We’ve got areas where there aren’t any jobs, and we’ve got other areas where they’re desperate for workers. There is a high correlation between high unemployment and coastal areas. We need to put some pressure in some of those areas.”

“We’ve got too many jobs chasing too few people, yet there are still pockets of potential labour around the country,” Andrew Robb said. He continued, “We’ve got areas where there aren’t any jobs, and we’ve got other areas where they’re desperate for workers. ”

Australia’s official unemployment rate is just over 4%.

Tenants in New South Wales, Australia face swift eviction if they fall behind in their rent under the first big overhaul of New South Wales’s tenancy laws in 20 years. With the rental vacancy rate in Sydney just 1.5 per cent, the State Government is introducing changes to try and lure more investors into the rental market.

Under the changes, tenants who fall behind in rent would have “the onus placed on them to apply to the tribunal” if they wished to contest their eviction - rather than landlords having to justify their case. The tribunal could make a decision on the application swiftly without need for a hearing.

But the laws will also protect tenants who become victims when landlords default on their mortgages. The planned 30-day eviction warning follows horror stories of tenants arriving home to find the locks changed.

Other planned changes include:

• A right to a reduced rent if a landlord puts the property up for sale and prospective buyers traipse through;
• Greater rights for tenants to put up pictures or paint properties;
• Water charges to be levied on all tenants in properties with separate meters to provide “uniformity”. A similar move in public housing resulted in a 29 per cent cut in water use;
• Powers for the tenancy tribunal to remove tenants from databases that real estate agents use to reject applicants;
• Cancelling eviction notices if a tenant can pay their rent arrears before the eviction date.
• Stopping the payment of interest to tenants on their bond money.

The State Government has released its plans for public comment and legislation will be introduced early next year.

The skills shortage in New South Wales, Australia could be alleviated if the State Government stopped charging temporary residents $5000 for each child they enrolled in a public school, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mervyn Bryant, the managing director of Lismore Diesel Service, said that after an Australia-wide search for a tradesman he finally found one in South Africa. “It’s nearly impossible finding a diesel fuel-injection fitter,” he said. “We found a tradesman in South Africa…but he is very concerned about the high cost of schooling his three children here.”

Mr Bryant said the cost per child was $4500 plus administration fees, which had to be paid before school started. “The fees are discouraging some prospective employees from coming,” he said.

Australia is facing a shortage of about 240,000 skilled workers in trades such as plumbing and motor mechanics.

Brendon Boyce, the director of the migrant recruitment agency Recruitglobal, said a family with three school-aged children moving to Australia and living in New South Wales could have to pay up to $14,500 in advance in school fees while receiving a wage of $41,850 a year.

A spokeswoman for the Education Minister said 457 visa holders could apply to have school fees waived.

The total number of jobs advertised in Australian newspapers and on the internet rose marginally by 0.1 percent in August. Australian job advertisements in August were 34.3 percent higher than 12 months ago. Looking at the different channels for advertising jobs, the number of job advertisements in newspapers increased by 1.5 percent in August. This rise follows a 1 percent fall in July. Newspaper advertisements are now 3.1 percent higher than in August 2006.

The increase in newspaper job advertisements in August was driven by rises in the ACT (7.1%); South Australia (5.2%); Queensland (4.1%); Tasmania (4.0%); Western Australia (2.2%); and Victoria (0.9%). These rises were partially offset by job advertising falls in the Northern Territory (-6.3%) and New South Wales (-0.1%).

The number of internet job advertisements fell slightly by 0.1 percent in August. In trend terms, internet job advertisements are still growing solidly, and annual growth has picked up to 40.6 percent from 25.9 percent nine months ago.

“Total job advertisements remain at very high levels. This indicates that the demand for labour continues to be very strong,” ANZ Head of Australian Economics Tony Pearson said. “Having said that, the monthly trend rate of increase in job advertisements is now easing from its recent highs. This has been associated with a similar easing in the monthly trend rate of increase in employment.

“The outlook for the labour market in the short term has been clouded by a number of developments, including the latest phase of the Federal Government’s Welfare-to-Work program implementation, the recent financial market volatility and repricing of credit risk, and the outbreak of equine influenza. These factors could lead to a short-term rise in the unemployment rate from its current three-decade low. Nevertheless, the outlook for Australian economic growth over the medium term remains positive, and this is expected to underpin continued strong growth in employment. Overall there is little prospect of a substantive easing in the current very tight labour market conditions,” Mr Pearson said.

Highlights from the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of data on key social, economic and housing characteristics for the United States has been released. The data came from more than 7,000 areas, including all congressional districts, cities, and metro areas with a 65,000 population or more. The highlights include:

Older Workers

Nationally, nearly one in four people between the ages of 65 and 74 (23.2 percent) were in the labour force in 2006, an increase from 19.6 percent in 2000. States with some of the lowest rates of older workers in the labour force include West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona.

The highest rates were found in South Dakota, Nebraska and Washington, D.C., all with about one-third of people in this age group in the labour force.

Homeownership

Homeownership has also increased since 2000, with more than two-thirds of all occupied homes (67.3 percent) currently owned by the occupant, compared to 66.2 percent in 2000. In 2006, the highest rates of homeownership were found in Minnesota (76.3), and some of the lowest were found in New York (55.6 percent) and Washington, D.C. (45.8 percent). Among the 20 largest metro areas, Minneapolis-St. Paul shared the top spot with Detroit (75.2 and 74.6 percent, respectively), with St. Louis ranking third (73.1 percent).

Non-English Speakers

In 2006, about 8 million more people spoke a foreign language at home than in 2000. Nationally, one in five over age 5 spoke a language other than English at home, compared to 17.9 percent in 2000. Among states, California (42.5 percent) had the highest percentage in this category, followed by New Mexico (36.5 percent) and Texas (33.8 percent).

Among the 20 largest metro areas, more than half of all people over 5 in Los Angeles spoke a language other than English at home. Miami ranked second in this category followed by San Francisco-Oakland and Riverside, California where about four in 10 spoke a language other than English at home.

Married with Children

The percentage of households that were married-couple families with children under 18 decreased from 23.5 percent in 2000 to 21.6 percent in 2006.

All states, except Connecticut, saw a percentage point decrease in households in this category since 2000. In 2006, Utah had the greatest percentage of married-couple households with children under 18, at 32.3 percent. Other states with high rates included Idaho, California, Texas, New Jersey and Alaska Florida (18.2 percent) and Washington, D.C. (7.3 percent) had some of the lowest.

Additional highlights:

The District of Columbia had a higher percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or more (46 percent) than any state.

California and Hawaii were the two states with the highest median value of owner-occupied homes (more than $500,000). California cities Newport Beach and Santa Barbara had median home values of about $1 million.

More than half of California homeowners with a mortgage spent 30 percent or more of their household incomes on mortgage payments and other owner costs. Less than a quarter of North Dakota homeowners spent 30 percent or more of their household incomes on mortgage payments other owner costs.

Canadian employment edged up by an estimated 23,000 in August according to Statistics Canada. The Canadian unemployment rate remained unchanged at its 33-year low of 6.0 percent, as more people entered the labour force in search of work.

The added employment in August brought overall gains for the first eight months of the year to an estimated 232,000 or 1.4 percent, slightly higher than the growth observed over the same period last year (+1.2 percent).

Older workers, particularly women, experienced strong employment growth in August, bringing total gains for the 55 and over age group to 4.6 percent since the start of the year.

Employment gains in the goods sector in August came primarily from construction. This industry continued to be one of the strongest sources of Canadian employment growth in 2007, up 5.8 percent so far this year.

Construction
Construction employment grew by 16,000 in August, with employment growth of 63,000 since the start of the year. Employment in the utilities industry grew by 3,900 in August. Since December 2006, employment in this relatively small industry has risen 20.1 percent. Employment in manufacturing was unchanged in August following modest gains in July.

Educational services
Employment in educational services jumped by an estimated 33,000 in August, partially offsetting last month’s decline. Most of the increase was in Ontario’s primary and secondary education sector.

Transportation and warehousing
Transportation and warehousing employment fell by an estimated 31,000 in August with losses evenly divided between the two industries. Despite this decline, employment in transportation and warehousing remained unchanged from a year ago.

Support services
In August, employment increased by 15,000 in both business, building and other support services, and in health care and social assistance. Employment in business, building and other support services was down 1.1 percent from the beginning of the year, while that in health care and social assistance was up 1.4 percent.

Technical services
Employment in professional, scientific and technical services declined by an estimated 14,000 in August. Most of the August employment losses in this industry were equally shared by Ontario and British Columbia. Growth in this industry, however, was up 4.7 percent since December 2006.

Public-sector employment
In August, public-sector employment grew by an estimated 44,000, with gains of 2.6 percent since the start of the year. The growth in August was strongly influenced by the employment increases in the educational services and health care and social assistance industries. The number of private-sector employees has shown little growth so far this year. Despite a small decline in self-employment in August, growth among this group was up 4.5 percent since last December.

Employment booming for older workers
In August, almost all of the employment growth for adult men and women came from those aged 55 and over. An estimated 34,000 older workers found employment in August. Since the beginning of this year, employment among the 55 and over age group has increased by 4.6 percent, the fastest pace of all age groups, with stronger growth for women than men.

The increase in employment in August was largely driven by full-time growth for adult men and part-time gains for adult women.

Newfoundland and Labrador
The number of employed Newfoundland and Labrador residents grew by 3,000 in August, its largest month-to-month increase in 18 months. While their employment rate rose by 0.8 percentage points in August to 51.3 percent, it stands at the same level as it was in December 2006. Virtually all of the August employment gains were in full-time positions for adult men.

Ontario
Ontario’s overall employment picture showed little growth in August. Gains in a number of service industries were somewhat dampened by a large decline in transportation and warehousing. Employment in the province’s goods sector fell by 20,000 in August, about half of which was in manufacturing. At the same time, the unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 6.4 percent. So far this year, employment in the province has risen 0.7 percent, half the national growth rate.

Quebec
Overall employment was little changed in Quebec in August, with gains in the goods sector offset by losses in the services sector. The unemployment rate remained near its 33-year low, and the employment rate remained at its record high of 61.1 percent.

British Columbia
There was little change in overall labour market estimates for British Columbia in August. However, there were a number of ongoing labour disputes in the province, including members of unions in 31 coastal forestry companies and municipal workers in Vancouver. Workers on strike or locked out are considered employed according to Labour Force Survey definitions. The number of hours lost from work due to labour disputes in British Columbia was substantial. During the week of August 12th, an estimated 14,000 employees were not at work because of labour disputes, resulting in a loss of about 517,000 hours or 37.4 hours per affected employee.

Canadian wage growth continues in August
August marked the fourth consecutive month with a year-over-year average hourly wage increase above 3 percent. Employees, on average, made 4.0 percent more per hour in August than they did in August 2006, exceeding the most recent year-over-year Consumer Price Index increase of 2.2 percent.

Recent immigrants who have been in Canada five years or less had the most difficulty integrating into the labour market according to a Statistics Canada report. This was even though they were more likely than the Canadian-born population to have a university education. In 2006, the national unemployment rate for these immigrants was 11.5%, more than double the rate of 4.9% for the Canadian-born population.

The situation improved for immigrants who had been in Canada between 5 and 10 years. Their unemployment rate was 7.3%.

As expected, the longer immigrants remained in Canada, the better they fared in the labour market, and the more the gap narrowed between them and Canadian-born workers.

The report shows that for the most part, established immigrants, those in the country for more than 10 years, had labour market outcomes in 2006 that most closely resembled those of Canadian-born workers. This is likely a reflection of their integration into the Canadian labour market over time.

The report focused on the labour market in Canada for immigrants in the core working age group, 25 to 54, in comparison with Canadian-born workers.

It pointed to the fact that many newcomers may need time to adjust to their new life in Canada and break into the workforce.

Alberta
Immigrants in strong labour markets, such as Alberta’s hot economy, tended to have relatively strong labour market outcomes, the report found. Immigrants in both Alberta and Manitoba benefited from strong provincial labour markets in 2006, and had some of the best labour market outcomes of all immigrants in the country.

The unemployment rate among very recent immigrants living in Alberta (those who became landed immigrants to Canada between 2001 and 2006) was 5.8% in 2006; less than half the national average for this group. This rate was, however, more than double the unemployment rate for Canadian-born Albertans (2.6% in 2006).

Quebec
Immigrants in Quebec experienced substantially higher unemployment rates in 2006 than Canadian-born Quebeckers, no matter when they landed.

Montréal
Very recent core-working-age immigrants (those who had been in Canada for five years or less) had much higher unemployment rates than their Canadian-born counterparts in all three of Canada’s largest census metropolitan areas in 2006, especially in Montreal.

This group of very recent immigrants in Montreal had an unemployment rate of 18.1% in 2006, three times as high as the rate of 5.9% among Canadian-born Montréalers.

Toronto and Vancouver
Similarly, very recent immigrants in Toronto and Vancouver also faced unemployment rates that were close to three times the rates experienced by the Canadian born in their cities. In Toronto, the unemployment rate for core-working-age very recent immigrants was 11.0%, while it was 4.0% among Canadian-born Torontonians. In Vancouver, the rate was 9.6% for these very recent immigrants, compared with 3.3% among the Canadian born in Vancouver.

Calgary
Calgary’s hot labour market benefited immigrants and Canadian-born workers alike in 2006. Canadian-born workers aged 25 to 54 in Calgary had the highest employment rate (89.3%) among the eight mid-sized CMAs selected for this study.

The strong demand for labour in 2006 was particularly apparent among the city’s immigrants who had been in the country for five years or less. Their employment rate was 73.6%—still below that of their Canadian-born counterparts in Calgary, but higher than that of very recent immigrants in the seven other mid-sized CMAs, as well as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Higher jobless rates for immigrants regardless of education
Immigrants aged 25 to 54 were more likely to have a university education than Canadian-born men and women in 2006. While 36% of immigrants in this age group had at least a bachelor’s degree, the proportion was only 22% among those born in Canada.

However, while unemployment rates for Canadian-born workers were lower for people with progressively higher levels of education, rates for very recent immigrants remained high regardless of their level of education.

Immigrants more likely to work in manufacturing industries
Immigrants were more likely to work in manufacturing industries than Canadian-born workers, as well as in professional, scientific and technical services. They were also more likely to be employed in accommodation and food service industries than those born in Canada.

In 2006, 19.6% of immigrants who had been in the country for five years or less worked in the manufacturing industry, compared with 13.0% of Canadian-born workers. Furthermore, weakness in manufacturing since the end of 2002 may have resulted in job losses among immigrants, particularly in Central Canada, where declines in factory employment have been the most pronounced.

Among Canadian-born workers, the biggest employer in 2006 was the retail and wholesale trade industry, with a 13.8% share. It was also the second-largest employer of immigrants, regardless of time since landing.

In terms of occupations, new immigrants who landed since 2001 were more likely to be working in sales and service jobs than Canadian-born workers.

Occupations in the natural and applied sciences were also more common among newly-landed immigrants than among Canadian-born workers.

Quotable Value has released August’s figures for New Zealand’s housing market. The average price of a house in New Zealand has risen to £135,067 ($394,397) from July’s £130,581 ($381,298). New Zealand’s average house prices are not directly comparable with the UK’s because, unlike the UK, the average home in New Zealand is a detached bungalow.

QV spokesperson Blue Hancock said:

“Across the country, year on year growth in property values remains strong. Reduced winter listings have been matched by less buyer activity, creating a balance in the market and resulting in prices still holding up in most areas.”

House Prices in New Zealand
Three Months Ending August 2007

* Assumed exchange rate is £1 = NZ$2.92

It used to be every Australian’s dream to own a house on a quarter-acre block in the suburbs, surrounded by a white picket fence, with a big yard containing a swimming pool and barbecue area. Families lived outdoors for much of the year, eating, playing and entertaining.

But the backyard, an icon of Australian suburbia, is under threat according to an article in the Independent. Tony Hall, a Queensland academic said that sprawling single-storey homes had become the norm in Australia, swallowing up the outside space once proudly occupied by the backyard.

Professor Hall studied aerial photographs as well as measurements of homes and residential blocks noticed a dramatic change had taken place during the 1990s with houses now extending right to the boundary of blocks, leaving little room outdoors. His research suggests that backyards have been shrinking for years, with population pressures reducing the size of blocks and creating higher-density housing. In inner-city areas, the most common outdoor space is a tiny paved courtyard.

The backyard, once a symbol of Middle Australia, traditionally contained a lawn, a sandpit, a garden shed, a vegetable patch and a Hills Hoist – a distinctive locally designed clothes dryer. It was a place where kids played cricket and rode their bikes, while their parents supped beer in the shade with friends and neighbours.

Professor Hall said that while urban sprawl was common to many countries, Australia was losing its backyards faster than most. The only exception he found was Adelaide, where people were still building houses with plenty of outdoor space.

Despite its image as a land of wide open spaces, Australia is one of the world’s most urbanised countries, with the bulk of the population squeezed into the seven coastal cities.

House prices in the UK have risen more rapidly than every country in the eurozone except Spain over the past five years, according to new research by Halifax. Since 2001, house prices in the UK have risen 90 percent, compared with a 40 percent increase for the eurozone as a whole over the same period. Spain is the only country with higher house price growth than the UK in the past five years, with an increase of 100 percent.

In the past year, Belgium experienced the largest rise in house prices of 18 percent, followed by France at 15 percent and Spain at 14 percent. The UK had the fourth-largest increase of 13 percent.

Of the 12 eurozone members included in this analysis, Germany is the only country to have experienced a fall in house prices, with a fall of 5 percent over the past five years.

Despite rising faster than the UK over the past five years, house prices in Spain are lower. The average price in Spain stood at £150,200 at the end of 2006, compared with an average of £187,100 in the UK. The average house price in Ireland (£209,300) and the Netherlands (£190,900) is higher than in the UK

The owner-occupation rate in the UK is currently around 70 percent. Spain has a significantly higher owner-occupation rate of 82 percent, whereas the Netherlands has a lower owner-occupation rate of 55 percent. In Germany, the rate is even lower at 45 percent.

Outside the eurozone, house price growth in the UK has outperformed Australia, Canada and the United States over the past one, two and five years. The US is the only one of these countries to have recorded a fall in house prices, with a 1.3 percent decline in the past year.

Along with faster growth, the UK also has a higher average house price than Australia, Canada and the US.

Property prices in Australia have grown by nearly 7 per cent during the first six months of 2007, led by strong gains in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. The RP Data-Rismark Index results in the couriermail show growth in property prices during the first half of 2007 is made up of a 6 per cent rise in the price of houses and an 8.5 per cent increase in the price of units.

These rates of growth are significantly higher than the historical averages registered for the
Australian market over the last 25 years, RP Data said.

“The median house price in Australia is now $459,402 (₤186,976) while the median unit price is $365,322 (₤148,686),” said RP Data CEO, Graham Mirabito.

Property prices rise across Australia

In the first half of 2007, house prices jumped in Adelaide (up 11.6 per cent), Brisbane (10.6 per cent), Melbourne (7.9 per cent), and Darwin (9.0 per cent).

Sydney houses have also experienced their strongest growth in years, with a 3.4 per cent increase during the six months to 30 June 2007.

The Perth housing market has slowed with growth of just 1.5 per cent.

Sydney and Perth remain Australia’s two most expensive markets, with median house prices of $559,770 and $505,115, respectively.

They are followed by the comparatively less expensive cities of Brisbane ($411,491), Melbourne ($402,817) and Adelaide ($359.504).

Unit values increase
The value of units has experienced even stronger growth than houses with a 8.5 per cent rise during the first half of 2007.

The growth in unit prices has been due to increases in the major capital cities, including Adelaide (21.9 per cent), Brisbane (15.7 per cent), Melbourne (10.2 per cent), Darwin (14.2 per cent), Perth (8.6 per cent) and Sydney (4.7 per cent).

Perth is far and away the most costly unit market, with a median unit value of $460,549, followed by Sydney ($407,181), Melbourne ($322,470), Brisbane ($301,264) Adelaide ($280,908) and Darwin ($278,538).

In June, the Canadian average weekly earnings of payroll employees increased by $2.27 from May to $769 (£362). The year-to-date growth was 3.1%.

In Canada’s largest industrial sectors, earnings grew for the first six months of 2007 in manufacturing (+3.6%), health and social assistance (+3.2%), educational services (+0.5%), while they declined 0.5% in retail trade.

Nationally, the number of occupied payroll jobs edged up 12,700 to 14,291,700 in June. Growth among the provinces varied, with Alberta showing the strongest increase (+0.6%), followed by British Columbia (+0.2%).

The industrial sectors showing the strongest employment growth in June were arts, entertainment and recreation (+1.2%), and construction (+0.9%).

The average hourly earnings for hourly-paid employees edged down $0.05 in June to $19.02 (£8.97). The average weekly hours for hourly-paid employees remained at 31.3 hours.

Canadian Average Weekly Earnings
June 2007

exchange rate £1 = $2.12 CAN